Category Archives: History

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. There have been two Saturdays occupied by events, the first an Artisan Fair to benefit the scholarship program at Creative Therapy Care. It was a hot, rainy day, but well attended, good music, lots of beautiful art. This past Saturday, in Rev War costume, I was spinning, relating spinning and fiber art information, representing Wilderness Road Regional Museum and the local militia group that I sometimes set up with. Again it was hot, but not rainy for this Riner Heritage Day event. I did set up a small table vending soap and yarn for this as well. This event was fun, as a History teacher offered extra credit to students who would approach one of the re-enactors, ask a pertinent question or listen to our spiel and then have their picture taken with us. I had at least a dozen young adults approach me, listen to my talk, have their photo taken, and thank me. One young man brought at least 4 of them over to me.

Between those events, work has been directed toward the garden, especially in the early morning before it gets hot. Everything planted is up except for the pumpkins. I guess I will have to try again on them before it is too late. There is a nice row of cucumbers sprouted, two rows of sunflowers and Hopi Dyeseed sunflowers, the tomatoes and peppers need mulch and it is a daily battle against the lambs quarters in the onions, asparagus, and peas. The only harvest is still asparagus, but I am getting my fill and passing some on to others.

Also, two skeins of yarn have been finished that will go to The Yarn Asylum in Jonesborough, TN along with several others soon. And the 97 little guest bars of soap were made, and wrapped for Franklin House Bed and Breakfast also in Jonesborough, TN. These goodies will be delivered back by friends coming here for a day of spinning, camaraderie, and food at an annual event hosted by mutual friends.

At night and during a couple of cooler days, I finished knitting the half Hap shawl that I was making with 7 of the breeds of wool I spun for the Shave ‘Em to Save ‘Em challenge. It ended up almost 6 feet wide and 3 feet deep. Every one of the 87 lace points had to be pulled and pinned during the blocking. It is lovely, and heavy. I will probably enter it in the Fair this year and then enjoy it’s warmth when the weather cools next fall and winter.

My pullets are all laying consistently sized eggs finally after getting a double yolked “ostrich” egg from one of the other each day. One Oliver egger has decided to be broody. I have never had a first year hen go broody on me, but that means one less egg each day and I am having to remove her from the nest several times a day and every evening.

A few weeks ago, I planted Calendula plants for the flowers for soaps and salves. The plants are blooming and I am gathering the blooms and drying them for later use. I need to find a patch of Broadleaf Plantain that isn’t in the animal’s footpath or our footpath as that is another herb that needs to be gathered and infused for a fresh batch of salves. My lavender plant didn’t get pruned two years ago and last year’s pruning didn’t improve it. I guess it will be dug up and a new one or two purchased so that it too can be dried and infused.

Each day we are taking a 2 plus mile walk together. We have several places we visit and get our exercise. Some days it is very pleasant, others it is hot and difficult.

Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler, maybe the yard will get mowed. The hay stand is tall and awaiting the annual mowing and baling.

The past weekend was spent as a Revolutionary War enactor. Our event was held at the Yates Tavern in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. The link will give you much more history about the building. As a spinner, using a spindle wheel/bobbin winder that may be 200 years old, I was on the porch with a friend who was making tapes on a box or tape loom. It happens that her 4th and 5th great grandfathers were the owners/proprietors of the tavern. The Militia group to which I belong, encamped on the grounds.

I have always had an interest in history. After all, I grew up between America’s Historic Triangle of Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown, and Southampton County, the site of the insurrection of Nat Turner. And though I lived there and read history, I was not a particularly good history student and as a typical teenager, it might as well have been the Roman Empire on my timeline.

As I visit the Revolutionary and Civil War sites in the mountains of Virginia where I now reside, and have visited other sites on the Piedmont of Virginia, at my current age, I realize just how young our nation really is and how current those events are. My great grandmother, who died in her 90’s when I was 14 years old, was born just after the Civil War in rural North Carolina. I wish I had talked with her about her history. My paternal grandfather grew up along the train lines in Virginia for much of his childhood, in Crewe and Victoria. He did tell me many stories of his youth, he was a “bad” boy as he put it, putting out one of his eyes with a pen knife as a youth, riding the rails, and finally settling down with about an 8th grade education to raise two fine sons and build his own business. My paternal grandmother didn’t tell us much about her history, though as soon as her sons were grown, she entered the work world in banking, at an age when most women her age didn’t work.

Unfortunately, I didn’t know my maternal grandparents who were raised in the area in which I now live, an area ripe with history also. They both passed before and just after I was born. Though my mother grew up in this area, she spoke of the times she remembered and I heard none of the stories of her father’s home under the cannons on John’s Creek Mountain (our home is also on it’s flanks) just as fog rolled in saving the home during the Civil War. The remains of that pre Civil War era home that fell into ruins after a fire in the late 20th century was torn down just prior to our moving to this area. The old collapsing barn still survived until just a few years ago and I was gifted a signed print of that barn by a local artist.

Now I wish that I had pursued more of the personal history of my elders. Perhaps I should share more for our grandchildren, I have lived through many events in our country, a Presidential assassination, attempted assassination of another, first space shot, first moon landing, space shuttle successes and failure, Twin tower attacks, the Cold War, and so much more. These events will seem like ancient history to our grandchildren, but I can remember where I was and what I was doing for each of those events and more.

Now I go to the museums and demonstrate what we now consider crafts that were life skills for the people of the period.

Today was a history day. A local elementary school brought their 5th graders to Wilderness Road Regional Museum for a field trip.

When I first started doing living history, I had no costume and didn’t want to spend a fortune on one. At the time I was spinning a castle style wheel and spun in my stocking feet, so shoes were not an issue. I bought a petticoat and shift from Etsy, later a kerchief, mob cap, and bodice also from Etsy and I was okay with the look as was the venue where I did most of my events. I had gotten a bed gown from Ebay, but it really didn’t fit well and is heavy, so not good in hot weather, so I rarely wore it. Then I joined a local Rev War militia group and my costume needed tweeking. My petticoat was a checkered pattern cotton with a gathered waist (wrong print, fabric, and style), the shift really isn’t quite the right style, the kerchief is the wrong fabric, and the bodice is a no-no. To work on upgrading, I purchased a couple yards of navy linen and made the pleated petticoat, it really feels better than the yards of gathered cotton. Another half yard of natural colored linen was hand hemmed into a proper kerchief. The bedgown was dragged out, adjusted a bit (plus I’ve lost some weight), so it was wearable. A new handmade shift is on order from a sutler, but you can’t see it under my gown and kerchief so I went with the old one today. The other items that needed upgrade are shoes which were ordered, but not available for 60-90 days, so my Berkeley style slipper shoes with rubber soles will have to do for now; and glasses. My glasses are the wrong shape and size and my prescription won’t work in the small round shape that is period correct. I can function without them if I don’t have to drive, operate machinery, or read, so I will just go without. Somewhere along the way at an event, I purchased the flat shallow straw hat that is period correct and adorned it with a handwoven tape.

This morning, all decked out with spindle wheel, baskets of breed samples and ID cards, fiber, wool combs and cards, lucets, box loom, and knitting I set up at the museum in the outdoor kitchen. Also outside of the museum were a militia reenacter with his kit, making mini balls over his fire and firing off his muskets, and a blacksmith. The 4 groups of kids saw a film in the museum, walked over to the old jail, spent time with each of the demonstration stations. The kids were awesome and though the outdoor kitchen was chilly, there were breaks where I could sit in the sun and warm my fingers.

The more I do this, the more I learn from using different equipment to the history and the better I become at drawing in the audience with questions and discussion, not a lecture. The fiber arts are fascinating, the area is ripe with history, and the audience, especially kids are awed when they realize that household linens and goods, as well as clothing were hand spun and hand woven prior to the advent of the spinning and weaving mills, and really how recently in history that was.

Every time my shop has been set up at a craft event, my space has been 10 X 10 feet, my pop-up tent is 10 X 10 feet when I am outdoors. My application for the first event for me this fall asked for a 10 X 10 foot space against a wall and paid the premium application fee to get it. Night before last a call came in and I was informed that there were no spaces of that size available. My options were an 8 X 8 foot space in the middle of the room or a 4 X 12 foot space in the hall. Not wanting a long skinny spot, nor being in the hall, I opted for the 8 X 8 foot center space and requested that the cost difference be reimbursed to me.

This produced a dilemma for me. My stall is set up with a mannequin that is free standing, 2 tables that are 2′ X 4′ each, and the wooden ladder rack that I made that is two panels each 31″ wide hinged with a piano hinge so it doesn’t open fully. And a space for me to sit on a small stool to spin or knit. This needed to be arranged so that the stall is open and inviting, and not knowing who or how the adjacent stalls will be set up.

Yesterday afternoon, an 8 X 8 foot space was laid out on the kitchen floor and the tables, mannequin, rack, and my stool arranged until it looked appealing. This produced another issue of where to hang the shop sign so that it is visible and not obstructive. It hangs from the tent when outdoors. Since the products are displayed in wooden crates much like old fashioned wooden soda crates, which have some weight to them, the sign will hang from the side of one down the facing end of one table.

The other hanging sign is one that leads with “Why Buy Handmade?” It will hang from the end post of part of the ladder rack. The space is a bit tighter than that to which I am accustomed, but I think it will work. Hopefully, it will be a good event and worth the time put in.

Tomorrow is an opportunity to don my Colonial garb, grab a spinning wheel and help teach and demo to a group of home schooled youth visiting Wilderness Road Regional Museum for a history day.

Summer is going so quickly and the weather has been so strange this year. A foot of snow in mid April after spring like temperatures in February. Rain and more rain in early summer, making putting in a garden a challenge, then hot and arid. Then the rain returned, along with insect pests in the garden, first Japanese beetles eating the leaves off of the Raspberry bushes, then they were joined by bean beetles and together, they decimated what remained of the first bean crop. Then the blister beetles arrived and defoliated some of the tomatoes. I hand picked them, dropping them in soapy water then sprinkled diatomaceous earth on the ground around the plants to try to kill off any that escaped to earth during the hand picking. The plants are alive, not putting out new growth, but fruit is ripening.

The tomatoes are being frozen whole but there are so many in the freezer now that I will pull them out, slip the skins off, and begin canning them this week when the rain resumes. The cucumbers that I planted this year for pickles are small and greenish white, interesting mild smooth flavor raw. Most of them are being lacto fermented into sour dills thick slices. Maybe a jar or two of spears too.

The silicone nipple lids and glass jar weights make the fermenting so easy.

There were two partial days off the farm this week in Colonial costume working with children, demonstrating the fiber arts and teaching drop spindling. Working with kids like this rejuvenates me.

Today, since it stayed dry yesterday and since tomorrow we will resume deck destruction, to take down the rest of the framework, I tackled cleanup. One task that I had promised eldest son that I would get done, was to move the scaffolding that we were not using for the deck back into storage. When we built the house, instead of renting scaffolding, we purchased it, knowing that it would be used repeatedly with staining the logs and other jobs. On occasion we have loaned some of it out to friend. Most of it was stacked against the house at various points and had been there for a year. It is now back in the back of the huge garage until needed again.

More the rotting deck wood was burned off in the burn barrel while I was working outside.

There will be another burn tomorrow, I am sure. To finish the jobs that I said I would get done this week was to stain the logs that were stained during construction then hidden behind the deck. They got a coat of diluted stain today and will probably get another coat, less diluted tomorrow. After tomorrow, we get another round of rain, so I will have to hope for a dry couple of days to get a third coat on before the new deck goes up.

This is the last day lily bloom of the season and for some reason, it is lopsided. This one is called Sear’s Tower and gets quite tall.

Last night while we sat on the front porch in the cool evening, a tiny ruby throated hummingbird visited the feeder. That is the first one I have seen that really had the vivid red throat. This morning, another little hummer decided the feeder was all his/hers, came for a drink and then sat on the crook neck to guard the feeder, not letting any of the others near it. It guarded for about 10-15 minutes, feeding then guarding, finally flew off. The photo isn’t great, taken from inside the house through the screen and enlarged, but you get the idea.

The header photo and the teaching photo were taken at the Wilderness Road Regional Museum camp and used from their site.

My volunteerism at my formerly beloved Smithfield Plantation has ended due to some changes that they have made. Though the Board won’t say why, they released the Director who was “Miss Smithfield,” heart, soul, and all the toil and effort that went with her position. This disheartened me, but she asked me to continue there out of her love for history and the facility. I tried. I really did, but the heart was gone and after a very discouraging attempt early this week, I submitted a letter of resignation like most of the other volunteers had already done.

Fortunately, she has moved on to another historic facility, the Wilderness Road Regional Museum in a community called Newbern farther from my house, but still easily doable. This week, she is running a Patriot’s Camp and has 15-20 kids each day portraying local figures from the Revolutionary War, and learning about the period in fun ways, different creative activities and outlets each day. She reached out to many of her volunteers and artisans to help with the camp and today, another spinner friend and I got our turn. The youngest was 5, the oldest 13, with an average age around 8 or 9. Some time was spent with the entire group talking about how fiber fit into the history, some time with fiber prep from shearing, cleaning the fleece, spinning, and weaving. After snack and energy release play battles, the group reconvened in two parts, with my friend teaching thigh spinning and Lucet braiding while I took the other group for learning to drop spindle. Later we switched groups. She had made Lucets for each child and had balls of yarn. I had made drop spindles and weighed out a half ounce of fiber per child and after they had their lessons, they went home with their own fiber tools.

Jim gets a kick out of me coming home from an event like this as I get so animated about the opportunity. The kids were full of energy and so smart, it fills me with energy too and I so love sharing my skills with them. Each group had a couple of helpers and one of my helpers got so into it that he asked if he could have a spindle and fiber too.

When camp was over around noon, the skies opened up and poured rain on us as we were packing up our wheels, spindles, looms, and Lucets and hurrying to load our cars under an umbrella brigade.

Several of the volunteers, dashed from camp back to Blacksburg, where a peaceful vigil was held for the director, where the Smithfield Board was supposed to enter the building for a meeting. Though we had very good news coverage, the Board must have heard as they entered on the other side of the facility through the hotel and avoided us. Many photographs were take, some interviews for print media, and some for the local TV new. I was still in costume and several other volunteers were also in costume and part of my interview appeared on the evening news. Though we don’t have local channels on our TV, a friend said I looked very professional and the costume made the interview. The many volunteers that have left Smithfield would love for the director to be reinstated and we would return, but in the meantime, we have followed her to her new venue and will continue to support local history.

Change is in the wind and boy oh boy has there been some of that recently. Unfortunately, it has taken out the power several times for anywhere from a few minutes to 9 hours and the start and failure have taken a toll on our appliances. The 11 year old appliances are not as sturdy as they were new and the microwave with stove vent failed. It has been ordered and will be installed soon. The most used burner on the stove top failed once and elder son shifted the back small one forward then replaced the back one when the one we ordered came in. The front one has failed again (it is actually an original as we moved it) and another replacement has been ordered. The big scary one though is the refrigerator. Each time the power goes out for more than a blink, it doesn’t come back on. At first it was just a few minutes, then a couple hours, now it is staying out for more than half a day. The contents get shuttled to the old basement fridge and I even called for repair once, but it came back on before they could come and unlike a car, it can’t be diagnosed if it is working.

But that is not where this post is going. The Cabin Crafted Soap and Yarn shop has been seriously short on product since the Holiday Markets in November and December, followed by a vending weekend at a Spinning Retreat and no real effort had been made to alleviate that situation. Spring and summer give me plenty of opportunities to spin at Historic Smithfield Plantation but vending opportunities are few. Spinning as a demonstrator at our Community Open House has been scheduled in May, but that is not a vending opportunity, though sometimes a skein or two of yarn is purchased. A couple of days ago, a young intern from Smithfield who is a local high school student reached out to me to participate in her high school’s Heritage Day event in May as a historical demonstrator and I am allowed to also vend without paying a booth fee by participating. It is a month off and it take soap a month to cure, so the cool windy days have keep me out of the garden and inside making preparation.

First on my agenda was to finally build the display stand for knitwear, for which the materials were purchased more than a month ago and they have been on the garage floor.

It was measured, cut, and assembled on Sunday and today, it got the first coat of polystain.

It is going to need to be sanded down with steel wool or superfine sand paper as the dowel cross pieces roughened with the stain and a second coat applied, maybe tomorrow.

Next up to resupply soap and all 4 soap molds were put to use with 4 different soaps made to cure for the month. That is 36 bars of soap.

Lavender; Cedarwood/White Thyme/Rosemary; Citrus all vegan soaps and Goat Milk/Oatmeal/Honey. They will be unmolded and cut to cure tomorrow. When son made me the wooden molds, daughter in law asked if I wanted silicone liners and I said no but wish I hadn’t as folding the parchment or butcher paper to line them is a challenge for me. Today I ordered a very thin silicone baking mat and I am going to cut it to line the sides and seal the pieces with a tube of silicone caulk to make unmolding them easier.

My other project is one that has niggled me for a while. The shop name is Cabin Crafted Soap and Yarn, the logo is an ink drawing of the main part of our log home drawn by our very talented daughter in law. The display sign is natural wood slats with black wood letters. All of this suggesting rustic, but my table covers have been a green paisley Indian cotton bedspread that was cut and hemmed and my display boxes are wooden shadow boxes that were painted on the outside with a pale mint green color and that wasn’t in keeping with the theme, especially if I am vending in costume as a demonstrator. With our local JoAnn’s store having a major moving clearance sale, I decided to purchase enough unbleached duck cloth to make two table covers and some acrylic paint in “Melted Chocolate” color to paint the shadow boxes.

The feel is more natural and more rustic with the wooden sign, pecan stained wood display, and reed baskets trimmed with dark leather (probably pleather) for the yarn, if follows the theme better.

The very young clerk who assisted me was told the plan was to make covers for two 24″ X 48″ tables. We discussed the fact that the width of the fabric was only 42″ so I decided to double it and just seam up the middle. so that it hung down over the table. I left her to cut while I went to pick up the paint and foam brushes and returned to pick up my fabric and pay out to leave. Upon getting home to work on it, I realized that she not only did not calculate enough fabric to hang off the ends if I cut it to give me front and back drop, she didn’t even give me seam allowance to hem the ends and still cover the 48″ length. I decided that the backs of the tables didn’t really need drop as I generally store my crates under the table from the back and used the extra to allow side drop. I guess I should have done my own calculations. She said she was getting off shortly to go to her afternoon classes at the Community College. I hope she isn’t majoring in math or fashion.

It has been quiet around here. It can’t decide whether it is spring with fruit trees, forsythia, and daffodils blooming, leaves developing on the lilac and some of the shrubs. Or still winter in April with a recent foot of snow.

The chickens are confused. The weather warms and they start laying lots of eggs, then it gets cold and they use all their energy just staying warm. The past couple of days have been mild and delightful, tomorrow, the high will be at 1 a.m. and fall all day to 29ºf by night and there are snow flurries in the forecast on Saturday and again on Monday.

I took advantage of the nice afternoon and evening to plant 66 garlic cloves and 100 onion sets and then to keep the Houdini chickens out of the newly planted beds and the just sprouting asparagus, three 25 foot rows of plastic chicken wire were purchased and staked around those boxed beds to try and keep them out so growth can occur undisturbed. Even when the chickens are allowed to free range all 30 acres if they are a mind to, they tunnel under the vegetable garden fence to dig in the spoiled hay and the compost. With four more 8′ X 4′ and 3 more 4′ X 4′ beds to plant, a better solution than the plastic chicken wire is needed to keep them out. After not having much luck with root crops and me being the only one who likes dark leafy cooking greens, a change up in the garden is due. Potatoes, greens, salad, radishes, carrots, and turnips are all readily available locally grown at the Farmers’ Market, so I’m not even going to mess with them this year. Tomatoes and Jalapenos are always canned or frozen and used up by the time the next growing season comes around, so they will be grown. Green beans and peas if I can keep the bunnies out of them this year will be grown. A block of popcorn with some kind of pumpkin or winter squash interspersed will be there. I have planted sweet potatoes for the past few years and then many don’t get used, so I doubt I’ll waste the space on them, but Kirby cucumbers will be added so I can make lots of pickles. They disappeared quickly last year the the cucumbers were pricey at the market.

The raspberries never did get thinned or pruned last fall and other than trying to control their spread into the other beds, it is too late to do anything about them this year. I would like to dig them all up and replant huge buried pots of them to control their spread. I also want to add to the blueberry garden and look at other fairly small fruit options.

One cold March day I took a fruit tree pruning class and though I can recite the rules, having an idea of what the finished pruning should look like still eludes me, but I have taken a stab at working on our small orchard. One of the Asian pears has gotten really tall and is thin and compact, not conducive to picking fruit and I have no idea how to deal with it. The apple trees and the other Asian pear have a better shape and I think I have a handle on the peach trees.

The early spring brought a trip to a fiber retreat and my first and hopefully last encounter with bedbugs. That put me on antihistamines and anti itch creams and salves for two weeks. Shortly after my return, a new travel size spinning wheel entered my life. It is a fun little wheel that fits in an extra large Land’s End canvas bag and only weighs 8 pounds.

Spring has brought two opportunities to spin at Historic Smithfield Plantation in costume before the season officially opened, a 5K and a fun run one weekend in March and an Easter Egg Hunt this past Saturday. Both of those events brought dozens of visitors into the Slave cabin/Summer kitchen where I spin, so it was fun and busy. When a child shows interest in what I’m doing, I will ask them if they would like to try. If the parent agrees, knowing that the child will have to sit on my lap or between my legs, they get to treadle the wheel while I draft the fiber and once they have helped spin a couple of feet, I double it back on itself to ply it and cut it off to give the child as a souvenir. The parents are always thankful and a bit surprised that I not only let the child touch the wheel, but help.

We have had three light frost nights, ice on the car windows when taking the grands to their bus, but so far, the remaining garden is hanging in. That may end tonight. We had an overcast day that never got above 45ºf and tonight it is supposed to get to freezing. I may be picking small jalapenos in the morning and quickly chopping the for the freezer.

Each night there are two or three young hens that have escaped from their late afternoon confinement in the run and gotten in the garden. As night falls, they have to be wrangled out of the garden and carried to the coop. Most are “squatters” that go into a submissive squat and are easy to pick up and relocate. One Welsummer is a runner and though she is distraught that she can’t get to the coop (she can get out of the pen but not back in), she runs. Once caught, she is calm as she is carried to the coop. Tonight I was later being able to get to them and it was full on dark. The runner and the Buffy escapee were perched on the fence in the dark. The other side of that same fence is their run and the open pop door. Stupid birds.

I was late because tonight was another opportunity to volunteer for Smithfield House, but not at Smithfield House. The Director and I dressed in costume and worked an Outreach event on the university campus. It was an outdoor event and chilly. We did get a bit of interest in volunteerism and internships, were fed huge bratwursts and fresh pressed apple cider. I am still trying to thaw out. I spun, she recruited.

Friday night, Jim and I will participate in another Smithfield event, the Spirit Hayride, but as participants, not volunteers.

The Spinzilla results were released and our team was about halfway down the list of winners. For our team, I spun the most and our sponsor, Strauch Fiber Equipment Co. generously offered an incentive prize of one of their awesome ball winders.

I have wanted to purchase one for quite a while was was excited to be the winner.

To test it out, I spun a bobbin of Hearts of the Meadow Farm’s Coopworth and wound it into a center pull ball and plyed it back onto the bobbin. The ball winder is so smooth and quiet. Thank you Strauch Fiber Equipment Co.

Another opportunity to educate. The teacher may retire, but never gives up teaching. Today was a special event on a day that Smithfield is normally closed, but was booked for a USDA event in cultural awareness. They specifically asked to have as many of the craft volunteers available as possible. One of the blacksmiths and his wife who assists him are retired. The lace maker was able to get the afternoon off, and I am retired, as are several of the docents that give the historical tour of the inside of the house. Though there are several areas in which I can sit and spin, the winter kitchen in the main house, the large shaded side porch of the house, my favorite is the slave cabin that itself has a history, having been moved at least twice and houses the huge functional Appalachian Rocker Loom, a non functional weasel, a non functional great wheel, and the accouterments of the slave household. This location allows a sharing of slave life on the plantation as well as history of spinning and demonstrating fiber prep and spinning on spindles and one of my wheels.

Today’s fiber for prep was some of the Dorset that I washed from raw and am still carding for spinning, and it was used with the drop spindles. Combs or a teasing board are going to be needed to get that done. For spinning on the wheel, I used some of the Hebridean from Hebridean Woolshed in Isle of South Uist. My bucket list contains a trip to Scotland to visit them. One skein of that wool was finished last night so the visitors could see the unspun wool and yarn from the wool.

Each visitor from the group today thanked the volunteers for giving up their day for them and at the end of the day, each of us was presented with a thank you gift, a small burlap sack with bread, honey from Virginia, Peanuts from Virginia, and a few apples. A delightful and pleasant surprise.